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12 years ago
Berwyn Frank
I was asked in this thread http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/1/1489/czech_chicago by the poster Jayg about a Czech Sokol hall that stood at 2345 S. Kedzie in what is now Little Village. Jay here is a blurb and image from my book about that Sokol. "Sokol Chicago is strategically placed in the center of this image in Macha's booklet due to its importance to the community. Sokol Chicago was
Forum: General Discussion
12 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Alan, thanks for the photos, I was not able to attend the event. Yes, Otto Kerner Jr. married Anton Cermak's daughter Helena after the divorce from her first husband.
Forum: General Discussion
12 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Jay, I could literally write a book on the Hawthorne Works, and have actually considered doing it. I have LOADS of information, TONS of memorabilia, and dozens and dozens of images related to the plant. The plant was located in Cicero and was as you said "a city within a city." In the factories peak during WWII the plant employed about 45,000 people. My father worked there from 1969-1
Forum: General Discussion
12 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Jay, read these three threads. I will post more about the Sokol hall, called Sokol Chicago, soon. Little Village http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/1/3134/page=1/_subject_ North Lawndale http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/1/3084/page=1/_subject_ Pilsen http://forgottenchicago.com/forum/2/1846/page=1/_subject_
Forum: General Discussion
12 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Wow Richard, that is neat. Do you have any pictures? What else do you remember about the area?
Forum: General Discussion
12 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Jay, check out my book on Little Village. In the book I cover St. Casmir and have a couple of very old images of the school. http://www.amazon.com/Chicagos-Little-Village-Lawndale-Crawford-America/dp/0738577375/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304983627&sr=8-1
Forum: General Discussion
12 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Jayg, Emil Denemark was a well known Bohemian car dealer in Lawndale beginnng in 1915. Here is a page from a postcard booklet from my collection put out in 1925 by Bohemian photographer E.F. Macha advertising the neighborhoods of Czechoslovak Chicago and vicinity. Emil Denemark lived at 2449 S. Pulaski in what is now Little Village and eventually had a beautiful home built in Oak Park at
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
"There is one for Machesney road that claims to be a Chicago street sign, but I could find no such road in Chicago using Google. Plus the mounting is underneath the sign which the city did not do even with the old yellow and black ones and the shape is not correct. " I e-mailed this seller a couple of months ago and told him that the sign he is selling is in Winnebego, IL near Rock
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
daveg Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Frank - WOW (again) > > The address on the clock, 3817 W. 26th in your > last post on page 5 of this thread reminded me of > a hobby shop that was close to the Leber Jeweler > store. > > The name of the hobby shop -- Linka's. It was on > the north side of 26th and close to the Atlantic
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Here is a page from a postcard booklet on the neighborhoods of Czechoslovak Chicago and vicinity put out in 1925 by Chicago Bohemian photographer E.F. Macha from my collection. This page highlights "Merigold" in North Lawndale which is interesting because by 1925 North Lawndale was the largest Jewish neighborhood in the city of Chicago. Merigold still had a significant population of Cz
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Or you do it the easy way and just look it up on blockshopper. http://chicago.blockshopper.com/cities/chicago-little_village/streets
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
It's a secret:)
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Well for whatever reason the administrators/FC team on this forum ignore me everytime I direct a question at them. Oh well. Just a FYI, unfortunately the Kaspar Bank building in Pilsen linked above was leveled within the past month.
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Serhii, great new topic on the main page. I was looking over the list of bank buildings that still survive. How about this one? The postcard was postmarked in 1921 but was older. Kaspar State Bank today This one as well? This is from a book in my collection done in 1926. Karban & Co. today
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Please see the last post on the previous page to see the beginning of this story. Ok, so since this is Berwyn Frank that you are dealing with here you could probably guess that the story doesn't end there. Before my visit I was contacted by a representative of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago and they mentioned to me that the people of Greater St. Paul A.M.E. church found some "ol
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
So I have been wanting to tell this amazing North Lawndale story so here it is....... In the North Lawndale community there is a very significant Bohemian/Czech building that is located at 4236 W. Cermak Rd. in the "K-town" section of that neighborhood. I actually included it in my book about South Lawndale/Little Village because of the buildings importance to that neighborhood and
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
disregard
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Cool, another Bohemian! I just checked the 1929 Polk Chicago directory and 3258 S. Hoyne was John & Bessie Kalina. The other corner grocery kitty corner to Horejsi was Joseph Kupka, another Bohemian.
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Wow, great info B.A.! That area must have been a little Bohemian enclave. Horejsi, Havlicek (pronounced Have-li-check) or it could have been Hlavacek. Does your mother in law remember the tavern owners name? I am VERY fascinated with these small corner stores and how they made these little neighborhoods self sufficient. You didn't need to go anywhere else back then, you had it all in your
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
I have much more to add on North Lawndale but I need to wait a bit for some of it......neat story coming soon! Here is a VERY cool old building that survives from North Lawndale's Bohemian past. This building at 4356 W. Cermak Rd. was built circa 1917 and was once Robert Babka Saloon. Robert Babka may have been related to Frank Babka who also had a buffet & saloon a few blocks away on 2
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Street sign update..... W. Nelson St.- $124.49 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=170619686104&si=Ts5JGZGbIKPxlkmLrn56b9uilvs%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT S. State St.- $296.86 WOW! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=330545217
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
daveg Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > On page 2 of this thread, there are pictures of > several homes on the 1900 south block of Avers, > including the one up for sale a few notes north of > here. > > Wonder why that block is so much different than > others in North Lawndale? For a few reasons I would imagine. First off those five
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Here are a couple more vintage images of North Lawndale for now. I will post much more next week after a tour I am doing of a neat old building there. This is a view circa 1909 view of Ridgeway N. of 19th St. Unfortunately you will see in the modern link that almost everything is gone now. (double click to enlarge) Modern View of 19th & Ridgeway Here is circa 1909 view of
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Nancy, thanks for the kind words. I will seriously think about doing a book on North Lawndale. There is A LOT of history to this neighborhood. Some might notice that I keep talking about the Bohemian/Czech aspect of the neighborhood. I have been doing this because just about everything I read about the area focuses on the time when the neighborhood was mostly Jewish. That was a great time for
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
222psm Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A book on the rise and fall of North Lawndale > would be awesome! Maybe I will talk to Arcadia and see what they think. By the way, was I wrong! In my post above which I made almost 24 hours ago I said maybe we would crack 10,000 views in this thread by the end of this weekend. Well we are at 11,000 views,
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
B.A., great topic! This is interesting because when I was working with Maylynne Sternstein, the author of Czechs of Chicagoland, I told her a great "under the sidewalk " story. I have an old Bohemian lady named Doris in my neighborhood that has become a surrogate grandmother to me and she told me a story of her father who grew up in Pilsen. When Doris' daughter (who is now 65 years ol
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Dave, I would like to do an Arcadia book on North Lawndale but I don't think they would go for it. There needs to be a large enough buying audience for the area written about and I don't think it exists in North Lawndale. On another note, I am amazed at the amount of views this thread has gotten recently. Since March 8th this thread has gotten over 4,000 views and is now the most viewed thr
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
More Bohemian North Lawndale....... I just picked up this picture the other day at a Chicago antique store. These are the officers of the Lawndale Wholesale Grocery Company which was located at 4011 W. Ogden in this building near where Ogden, Cermak, & Pulaski intersect. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4011+w+ogden&aq=&sll=37.0625,-9
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
Here are a bunch of pictures of the time capsule property on 33rd & Hoyne.
Forum: General Discussion
13 years ago
Berwyn Frank
I had to make a trip to the Mikinley Park area so I grabbed some pics. First I went to the 3600 block of S. Loomis Place where I saw this VERY cool brick street. At the end of the block the bricks were all coming out so I "borrowed" about a half dozen of these "Streator Paver" bricks!
Forum: General Discussion
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